In November 1956, British paratroopers dropped into Port Said to take back the Suez Canal. Within days, Britain had agreed to a ceasefire and was on its way out, humiliated. It wasn’t the Egyptian army that forced the retreat, and it wasn’t the Soviets. It was America, Britain’s closest ally, and the weapon it pointed at London wasn’t a missile. It was a pile of … Continue reading The Spy Who Lent Me: How Countries Use Each Other’s Debt as a Weapon